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Conservative Leader Councillor Philip Jackson has now claimed that his party are the only ones who are "on the side of the hard pressed tax payer", as council tax will now be increased by 4.98 per cent.

He said: "Our message is simple, if the Labour administration had been quicker in bringing about changes in the way services are delivered and had done more to maximise income, this full Council Tax increase would have been unnecessary.

"Examples include failure to lease out the former O’Neill’s pub in Cleethorpes, the public toilets saga, the years it’s taken to introduce a new car parking strategy coupled with the loss of income from broken down car park ticket machines, the failure to increase recycling rates over the last five years and the lack of enforcement on litter, dog-fouling and fly-tipping which has resulted in massive clean-up costs for the Council.

"This Labour administration has shown itself incapable of delivering basic services effectively and efficiently and the hard-pressed Council Tax payer is suffering as a result."

However members of the Labour Party have hit out at the opposition parties for having to stage a "needless second meeting" as Thursday's vote passed the exact same budget that was on the table last week.

Portfolio Holder for Finance, Community Assets, Governance and Tourism Councillor Matthew Patrick said: "Although I am happy and relieved that the budget is finally passed, I am highly disappointed that we had to go through this needless second meeting just to arrive at the same conclusion as we would have done a week ago.

"The opposition parties have played politics with one of the fundamental civic duties, being able to deliver a sustainable solvent budget.

"This process has been ongoing for six months, and I was perfectly happy to consider any amendment from any party that would not compromise the council regarding any of our key objectives, service delivery, protection of the vulnerable and economic growth.

"However there was none, and politics should have been put to one side to meet our duty to the law and to residents of North East Lincolnshire.

Councillors passed the budget for 2018/19 which will see council tax rise by 4.98%.

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"They were not, and now, for the sake of cynically trying to engineer something to put in their election literature, opposition councillors have damaged our financial standing, which could compromise our ability to seek external support in future.

"Their actions could of placed us in financial special measures, that would have taken this budget out of democratic control, which could lead to a higher council tax increase and loss of local vital services."